Manchester City have made an official bid in the last few days for long-term target Hector Bellerín, according to Catalan newspaper SPORT.

Pep Guardiola is a known admirer of the 22-year-old Arsenal right-back and City made an approach for the player last summer, but were knocked back by their Premier League rivals.

According to SPORT, City bosses wanted to wait until the end of the season to make a formal approach and have now done so, presenting an economic proposal in recent days. Next week they expect some news, but know this will be a very difficult deal to pull off, with Bellerín under a long-term contract at Arsenal and former club Barcelona also very interested.

The starting price for Bellerín will be no less than €40 million (£34.5 million), a figure that very few clubs would be willing to invest in a right-back, but City are said to be willing to spend big on a player both Guardiola and Txiki Begiristain like.

Interest in Benfica right-back Nélson Semedo is also noted by SPORT, with the view being that he is a back-up plan in the event that Bellerín can’t be prised away from Arsenal.

As was the case when interest in Semedo was first reported in Portugal, the name of Kyle Walker isn’t mentioned at all by Tomàs Andreu, the source of this story, despite strong claims from the English press that the Tottenham right-back is City’s preferred option for that position.